F. A. Per ret — Report on the Messina Earthquake. 321 



Art. XXVI. — Preliminary Pej>ort on the Messina Earth- 

 quake of ' Deceniber 28, 1908 ; by Frank A. Ferret, K.I.C., 

 former Honorary Assistant at Royal Yesuvian Observatory. 



As special representative of the American Consulate, the 

 writer sailed from Naples on Dec. 30, arriving at the Straits 

 at daybreak of the 31st.* He remained eight days and the 

 scientific observations and photographs were chiefly confined 

 to Messina and its environs, Reggio and Villa San Giovanni 

 having been inspected only from the sea during a visit of the 

 U.S. S. "Scorpion" to the Calabrian coast. The present 

 report must, therefore, be considered as preliminary in its 

 nature and limited by the extraordinary conditions incident to 

 life in destroyed cities under martial law, aod in a state of 

 siege. 



Before proceeding to a detailed account of the observations, 

 it may be well to present a summary of the principal facts : 



For several weeks preceding the earthquake a number of 

 more or less severe shocks were felt in the neighborhood of 

 the Straits, the most important occurring on Nov. 5 and 

 Dec. 10. Exactly twenty-four hours before the great event, 

 i. e. at 5.20 a.m. of Dec. 27th, the seismograph at the Messina 

 Observatory registered an important earth movement. 



Etna and Stromboli were unusually active on Dec. 25th, 

 but neither showed sympathetic action at the time of the earth- 

 quake nor immediately after. 



The earthquake occurred at 5.20 a. m. of Dec. 28, 1908 

 (cf. fig. 1). The macroseismic duration was about 32 seconds. 



The epicentrum was apparently at the northern entrance of 

 the Straits or a little to the E. and N. of this. 



The intensity within the raegaseismic area was between the 

 9th and 10th grade of the Mercalli scale, and fell off rapidly 

 with increasing distance from the epicentrum, indicating a 

 centrum at no great depth, possibly 15 kilometers or less. 



The destructive area extends to and beyond Falmi on the 

 north and to Ali on the south, say twenty miles in either 

 direction. 



The isoseismals will show an elliptical form with the major 

 axis lying N. and S. or, more precisely, from E. of N. to W. 

 of S. 



Within the megaseismic area free surface waves were pro- 

 duced, and their forms, preserved in the stone pavement of the 

 Messina embankment, were photographed by the writer. 



* The cost of this seismologic study is being paid from a fund generously 

 and promptly subscribed by friends of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- 

 nology and by the Volcanic Research Society of Springfield, Mass. 



Am. Jour. Sci. -Fourth Series, Vol. XXVII, No. 160.— April, 1909. 

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